


That One Where They All Cuddle

by indigo_inkpot



Series: You Might As Well Live [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, Cuddles, Fluff, Multi, Polydins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 20:06:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16311860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigo_inkpot/pseuds/indigo_inkpot
Summary: Short drabble based on my own experiences of what it's like to have limbs that don't like you.Shiro takes a day and his wonderful paladins are all up for a cuddle puddle.





	That One Where They All Cuddle

**Author's Note:**

> It only took me like four, five fics before I started using this as an opportunity to vent my personal shit so yay?  
> Basically it got super cold on the one morning I had to go to a hospital an hour's drive away, during rush hour. It was rough and I spent the whole day sick because I didn't take preemptive meds. So I'm venting and Shiro is who I'm channelling today.
> 
> I ship Polydins so gd hard so catch these hands if you don't like it, you had fair warning. I just want all of these kids in a cuddle puddle pls.
> 
> Set in a handwavey place in an unknown time so don't @ me about the details.

The door creaks open, casting a faint light into the room. There's no source immediately outside the door, rather the hallway is lit by a single wall-mounted lamp at one end and the open living space at the other. From the flickering, which cuts out after a moment, most of the light was probably coming from the TV. There's still a faint light from the LEDs that gently glow along the kitchen walls, so Shiro can see the shadows that play across the floor, dancing grey over the soft blue-green Pidge had programmed the lights to pulse. Nothing like the ships they'd been on, but the colour was just faintly reminiscent of the Castle, enough to be comforting without making anyone homesick.

A shadow passes over his head, and Shiro hears Lance's tablet settle on the bedside table. He must've fallen asleep next to Hunk, because the hand Lance claimed some time ago to play with while reading has now settled in Shiro's hair, thick fingers rubbing at the base of his skull where his undercut is starting to go fluffy. Shiro's hand flexes against Hunk's leg where his arm is curled around it, but he doesn't have the energy to move. It's nice though, he doesn't have anywhere to be - as the other two argued earlier - so he might as well just take the physical contact. Matt is constantly ranting about how he never gets enough of it, dropping himself lovingly but aggressively into Shiro's lap whenever they have a spare moment. 

This is nice though. Something about spending time with Hunk slows everything down. Lance's high energy doesn't seem as grating, and he settles fast. Crashes hard too, by the deep, slow breathing and the warmth pressed against Shiro's back. He doesn't understand it, but they're all so  _warm_. It can be intoxicating, inviting sometimes. 

He can hear Keith and Pidge going about their nighttime routines. Normally, he's the one to do the last patrol and lock up, but even if he weren't so blissfully content to stay where he is, he probably couldn't make it to the bedroom door right now, never mind reach the tricky window in the bathroom that Keith stands on the toilet to close. There's the dull thump of the window slamming closed, followed by the sound of Keith hopping off the toilet and padding back down the hall. His shadow fills the doorway for a second, and Shiro feels his heart fill a little more too.

"This looks cosy," he laughs, "Is this where you've all been hiding since lunch?"

Hunk nods, rearranging the blankets and pillows so there'll be room for two more. He drapes another yarn-based monstrosity over Shiro's shoulders and it takes him a moment to realise it's because he's shaking again. He burrows down, pressing his head against Hunk's side. He's not cold, he's not, he's fine. If only his body would get the message, because he remembers all too well what freezing to death felt like and he doesn't need a recap. Keith shakes his legs free of his jeans and clambers onto the mattress, crawling over until he's facing Shiro on the other side of Hunk's thigh. He takes the pillow that Hunk hands him, bunching it up under his arms. Keith is a side and belly sleeper, or a cat-sleeper if you ask Lance (and he's not wrong). He'll curl up into a ball around the nearest person or object, but it isn't long before Pidge comes in and smoothly slides into the Keith-cuddling zone. 

Keith doesn't 'do' gleeful, but that's the only word Shiro can think of that describes the way he immediately coils around their smaller partner. Big, slightly glowing eyes peer out over the top of Pidge's short, scruffy attempt at a ponytail.

"Checklist," Pidge orders, handing a water bottle to Hunk for him to put on the other bedside table. 

"Lunch, eaten but we didn't get up for dinner," Hunk begins, counting off on the hand not stroking Shiro's head. "Meds, taken and there's an emergency top up leftover if he needs it. We've done the anti inflammatory gel and the anaesthetic patches, but he doesn't want the heat pad. Lance made like a thousand cups of tea this afternoon so I can't say for sure how much he's drank but it's probably enough."

Pidge leans over Hunk's knee and presses close to Shiro. It's nice, comforting, to know they're watching out for him and helping him track the stuff he was never any good at. 

"You did great today, and we'll take it easy tomorrow. There's a laundry basket full of near-identical socks waiting for us to pair up." He huffs, and he hopes Pidge interprets that as the laugh it was supposed to be.

Keith reclaims his cuddle buddy, and by the time those two have settled, Shiro's watching them blurrily from where he's sunk down against Hunk's hip. The hand on the back of his head feels heavy, and even though he knows it's the painkillers making him fuzzy, he still gets tense for a second. 

"Stop thinking and just cuddle," Lance growls, rising from his own nest and moving the sleepy weight of his leg over Shiro's back. The pressure pushes down on Shiro, working like his weighted blanket does when he naps alone. It's immediately soothing, but of course Lance knew that, he always knows these things, always picks up on the physical things they need. 

Hunk's chest rumbles above him, "Shiro, I can hear you trying to think. Sleep, now." 

With the weight and warmth of his paladins, his universe, around him, Shiro has no way to argue. He huffs out a sigh, presses a gentle kiss against the inside of Hunk's thigh, and lets himself drift.

**Author's Note:**

> Shiro is a leg-hugger, I would put money on it. A lap-hogger and a leg-hugger.  
> I'm tempted to develop this but it's 2am and my own meds just kicked in so whooo I'm off to sleep for another week.


End file.
